Interview with the Yokai

Chapter 1

Matsumoto Shoji was in the first floor computer lab, the lab was the meeting place for the Sasayama Academy Student Newspaper, The Sasayama Bugle. Club activities were an important part of most high schools, but at Sasayama Academy they were mandatory and the clubs were one of the many aspects that the private boarding school sold itself on.

" You've been doing a great job with the first year's Presidential Election, even though you didn't want to do it at first. I think I was right in thinking you could provide an impartial view," Tanto Oze, the editor of the Bugle said. Oze was a third year and while Shoji couldn't explain it, always gave him an odd feeling. Oze looked like a typical high school student who was a bit disheveled, he had short black hair, he wore his school uniform somewhat carelessly, wore black rimmed glasses, and had pale skin. While Shoji dressed far more neatly taking care in his appearance, his skin while not tan, wasn't pale, and most would say his facial features were softer and better framed by his long hair, he couldn't say that Oze's appearance was so far from his own to cause the odd feelings he got around him. The truth was that the odd feeling Shoji got was one of his quirks. Shoji had always had these odd pinprick feelings and always felt he was seeing things just out of the ordinary, it was these feelings that led to his secret interest in the supernatural. It wasn't only Oze that gave him an odd feeling, he had been getting a lot of odd feelings since arriving at Sasayama Academy. It might have been the fact that the Academy was at the foot of Mt. Mitake and so surrounded by forest that it sometimes seemed that the forest would swallow the Academy. Shoji wasn't a city boy though, he had lived in Sasayama his whole life, he was used to mountains and forest, yet the Academy felt almost otherworldly.

" I'm just trying to do a good job, to be honest I've never had a strong interest in politics, especially school politics. School elections usually just feel like a popularity contest and at the end of the day, the faculty has the real power," Shoji said.

" A bit cynical, especially for a first year. There is some truth in what you say, in other schools. At this school though you're going to find that the Class President you elect will have quite a bit of power. They will be in charge of school events for your year, they will be in charge of your dorm, and they will be the head of the student jury that hands out punishment in smaller school infractions. The autonomy that the staff gives the students, even the first years, is something I love about this school, that's why I take the student council elections so serious," Oze said.

" Most students don't know how much power the Class President will have and are just voting for who they like not who will do the job right," Shoji said.

" That's why we're here, to inform our classmates and hopefully keep things from being a popularity contest. So far your articles have done a good job of that, the four candidates you have now all seem serious," Oze said.

" Thanks for the compliments again, maybe after the election I can try my hand at writing some reviews?," Shoji said, trying to get the idea in Oze's head. Shoji had joined the Bugle hoping to work on the art section of the paper. Shoji's father had attended Sasayama Academy and been part of the Performing Arts Club, he was now a famous playwright. His father thanked Sasayama Academy for his success, which had led to him meeting Shoji's mother, a Set Designer. From an early age Shoji had gone to see student plays at the academy's auditorium, one of it's three big buildings, the other two being the sports complex and the arts studios. Shoji had always had an attraction to the written word, it wasn't a surprise growing up in his household. Shoji had written several plays while in elementary school mimicking his father, but when he entered middle school, he lost the spark that had driven him to write. Shoji could write plays, but found himself constantly disappointed in the quality of his work, until he finally stopped altogether. Shoji could still analyze plays and could appreciate the works of others, so instead of being a playwright, Shoji set his sights on being a critic.